Who do you think the shareholders are? One unified group of cartoonishly evil mustache-twirling villains?

I'd be very pissed off if dividends or bond yields from across the industry dropped 50% overnight.

Of the largest shareholders of major corporations are mutual funds, pension funds and such that fund people who are completely dependent on investment income to live. A policy that causes a 50% change in profits would be a massive shock to those people.